Former Iowa State English professor and author Annabelle Bowen Irwin died Sunday of complications from hepatitis C at the age of 82.

People who knew Irwin say she will be missed.

“[Irwin] was just a very enthusiastic individual, very exuberant about her teaching and lots of fun,” said Nancy Bowers, former ISU faculty member and member of the Ames Police Department.

Bowers said Irwin was excellent with students and a “wonderful” colleague who was intent on her job.

“She had such good will toward everybody, and a mischievous sense of humor,” Bowers said.

“In the academic environment, it’s very rare to find somebody that doesn’t take herself too seriously … but she [didn’t],” she said. “I think that’s why the students responded to her … there was no academic double-talk.”

Bowers said Irwin supervised student teachers when she first came to ISU. However, she said Irwin was always very creative.

“I was her office mate from 1974 to 1977, and we had just a ball together … She kept me in stitches all the time,” Bowers said.

During her time at ISU, Irwin co-authored many young adult novels with colleague Lee Hadley.

According to The Des Moines Register, Hadley and Irwin wrote 13 works of fiction under the pen name Hadley Irwin.

“Most of the books they wrote were ‘social’ in terms of what teens have to deal with today,” said Jeannette Eyerly, co-author of the instructional book “How to Write For Young Adults,” with Irwin and Hadley.

“It’s such a pleasure to interact with people that had the same interests,” Eyerly said.

Bowers said she watched Hadley and Irwin create their first book. She said the two “co-wrote everything.”

“[They wrote] real literature of a higher artistic value than you would think at first glance,” Bowers said.

She said their books won several awards and were translated into different languages. She said two of their books were made into TV movies.

Before becoming a professor at ISU, Irwin taught high school English for almost 20 years, establishing herself as a textbook author, reported The Register.

She also wrote two historical novels, “Moon of the Red Strawberry” and “United We Reach the Valley.”

“When she was younger and raising children in the ’50s, there were not a lot of creative outlets, so she just wrote all the time,” Bowers said.

Bowers said Irwin entered contests in which she wrote commercial slogans, and one time she won a trip to Europe.

In 1969, Irwin was hired into the English department at ISU. She taught at ISU until her retirement as an associate professor emeritus in 1985.

Bowers said Irwin was still active after her retirement. She said Irwin had co-authored a book about Iowa history that was used in all the public schools in Iowa and she would update it “from time to time.”

According to The Register, her body was donated to the University of Iowa College of Anatomy, and her ashes will be interred at the Oak Hill Cemetery in Iowa City.

A memorial visitation will be held from 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday at the family home in Lake View.